What started a leisurely activity years ago is now a full-blown multibillion dollar industry. According to a recent study, by 2020, eSports will be worth $1.5 billion and will have close to 600 million users. The competitive gaming industry has come in leaps and bounds over the past 15 or so years, and is now one of the most professional sectors there is anywhere in the business world. The rise in popularity of eSports over the past decade and a half has seen competitive gaming now being taught in universities, which offer a whole wide range of courses pertaining to the business aspect.

According to a recent study, adults in the United States of America watch sports coverage for an average of 1.37 hours per week and watch 1.15 hours of eSports per week. In terms of global viewing figures, it is 1.35 hours of traditional sports and 1.03 hours of eSports. For the younger male viewers, eSports is only second to movies. This means that traditional and popular sports such as NFL are losing viewers, as competitive gaming is gaining precedent. American football is the biggest, most popular and most lucrative sports in the USA, but Fox is losing viewers.

While this will be a concern for the NFL bosses, for those in charge of eSports this is great news. Not only does this mean that there could be more coverage of competitive gaming by traditional media in the coming years, but it could also lead to more and more viewers taking to betting on the games. Websites such as Master Mazuma provide an option to the viewers to wager bets on live tournaments as they are happening, and with more and more people taking to eSports, there will be more bets, which in turn will make the betting sector of the industry bigger.

The increase in popularity of eSports means that there will be more movies made regarding competitive gaming, probably more than there are about NFL. Over the years, Hollywood has produced numerous movies based on American football, many of which are genuinely great. Remember the Titans, Friday Night Lights, The Blind Side, Invincible and The Longest Yard are just some of the films who are known worldwide and have societal implications. There have not been too many films made on competitive video gaming, but if the upcoming comedy-drama starring Will Ferrell takes off as expected, then it could usher in a new era of biopics on eSports.

There have been films made based on video games. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Doom, the Resident Evil series and Warcraft have been well received by critics and viewers, showing that there is a substantial market out there for such films. For eSports films to be successful, not only do they need to show why competitive video gaming is so enthralling, but they also have to make sure that there is a human appeal in the films which endear them to even those who are not into eSports.